


The black cat book cafe

by MalecHeline



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Aline is a barista, Aline is enamored, Books, Clary and Aline are friends, Coffee, Cute, F/F, Halloween, Helen is a customer, Magic, coffee shop AU, halloween decor, implied magic, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 14:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20065393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalecHeline/pseuds/MalecHeline
Summary: "It was the night where the monsters came crawling out of their cages when the clock struck 12 and the witches came flying over the dark starry night as the air cooled down. The night the wolves would howl into the night, the fireflies would fly through the woods and the ghosts would roam the streets." Better known as Halloween. A night Aline absolutely despised, but would she feel the same way after this particular night? Where one mysterious girl had somehow caught her off guard? Or was she simply just seeing things that weren't there?





	The black cat book cafe

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello!! Another fic for team green, woehoee! The prompt used for this one is: "Coffee shop AU"  
The fic is kinda ehh, in my opinion (not the best, not the worst), I hoped it would've been better or more like I imagined it to be, but better luck next time I guess. I wanted to make this the first chapter of my heline witch fic, but I still have my doubts about that, so we'll see! Hope at least some people like it!

Aline looked up to the full moon floating high up in the sky, looming over the town filled with, trying-to-be-scary, decorations every few houses. It was the night most Americans planned the entire month of October around, Halloween. The month that made people want to dress up in the most ridiculous costumes, that made them want to scare their family and friends, the night that made people tell ghost stories or watch a scary movie. The night where the monsters came crawling out of their cages when the clock struck 12 and the witches came flying over the dark starry night as the air cooled down. The wolves would howl into the night, the fireflies would fly through the woods and the ghosts would roam the streets. Not that Aline believed any of that to be true.

For her it meant children of all ages running around the streets at night, not worrying about anything other than the candy that was sat in a bowl just for them, high on sugar and high on energy while annoyingly asking their neighbors they didn’t even know if they would contribute to their already way too full bucket of all the different sorts of candy. ‘Trick or treat’ Aline heard them yell as she kicked an empty can of coca cola with her feet to the other side of the road. ‘Trick or treat’ she heard again, the shrill voice of the girl making her wince. Halloween might be a holiday for others but for Aline it just simply felt like hell. She didn’t enjoy it when she was a kid. The sugar only made her sleepy, the costumes were way too itchy and ridiculous and everything else just seemed to annoy the shit out of her. She couldn’t quite grasp the idea of why people liked this day, it just felt off to her. Not knowing what was so special about the 30th of October.

It was barely 7pm and she already had had enough of the night when it had only barely begun. She had, like every other year, no party to get to, but instead had to come into work. The only day of the year they kept it open for way too long, so that all the teenagers could get a hot drink at the end of the night, while she had to deal with their drunken asses throwing up at the side of the road. Aline wasn’t a grumpy person, she would say, it was just something about this night that got chills running over her spine and goosebumps making her shiver. It just wasn’t her thing, and nobody could make it her thing, how hard they would try.

She finally turned the corner of the way too long alleyway and reached the chalkboard that said: _The black cat book café_. Shaking her head at the slight change in name, she opened the glass door and heard the familiar doorbell ring as she stepped foot into the warm shop. She rubbed her dirty boots against the carpet that had some cheesy quote on it and walked to the back where she had to sign in to her shift. She greeted a few coworkers along the way, not feeling too excited as most of them weren’t anyone she loved to work with. The shop was heavily decorated with all kinds of rugs, spiderwebs, scary paintings and a hint of orange here and there. It looked nice, she admitted, especially since the shop already had it’s mysterious vibe going for it. She supposed the extra witch gems, necklaces and overall Halloween themed food was kind of a nice addition.

She walked towards the back room, getting her apron and tying it around herself. She winced slightly as the light above her head started flickering every now and then. It had done that for months on end, but it still caught Aline off guard every time. Now _that_ was a thing that was scary. As she pulled her hair back in a sleek ponytail, she looked closely towards the schedule that was hung up on the bulletin board. She knew Izzy didn’t have any work today, but still she hopefully looked through the names waiting to see if someone she liked was working. She felt utterly relieved when she saw the red headed girl was on it. Tonight was going to be hard on her and she might need some reinforcements to get her through it, otherwise known as Clary Fray.

Clary was the sweetest, but at the same time one of the toughest people she’d even had to pleasure to get to know. They had met during work, as Clary had needed money to get her through expensive art school, which Aline had to hear almost every other day to the extent of how expensive it actually was. She had to admit though, Clary was crazy talented and had many different styles Aline loved. She also quite fit in to the ‘cute art girl who has her art stuff with her all the time’ vibe.

Aline was happy Clary had joined their team and she, Isabelle and Clary had become a force to be reckoned with, she’d say. She had also some male colleagues she was particularly fond of, but right now she was just way too excited that Clary was working tonight and would make sure the time didn’t pass as slowly as possible. She walked back into the barely filled coffee shop and moved back behind the counter, waiting for the next annoying costumer to get on her nerves, but she still put on a smile on her face and began wiping off the counters with a clean towel. Hoping the hour would go by very quickly so Clary would come to her rescue, but knowing it probably wouldn’t.

Sometimes she hoped she could just grab a book out of the huge dusty bookcase at the back of the shop and read until her shift was over, knowing that the shop was mostly empty at this time of the day anyway. She looked around the room watching three customers sipping on their hot drinks while either looking out of the window, staring into the blacks of the night or scroll through their phones. But she couldn’t, she knew she couldn’t. The most she could do was sneakily take a few books home after her shift was over, and putting them back before the next one.

***

“How long has that girl been sitting there?” Clary asked as she walked past Aline towards one of the coffee machines, ready to clean it up.

“What girl?” Aline asked as she scribbled some unconscious shapes into her notebook as she was too bored out of her mind to do anything else.

“That blond over there,” Clary gestured towards a girl sitting in the back, probably taking space in the least lit area of the shop. Aline had to look twice to make sure someone was actually sitting there as she was sure when she looked that direction a few seconds ago, nobody was. As if the girl had appeared out of thin air. Strange….

“I… don’t…. know,” Aline muttered as she turned her head to the side. She looked closely at the blond haired girl, reading this massive book that laid before her. She was sure it wasn’t from their bookcase, so the girl must’ve brought it herself.

Her hair laid carefully down her face, falling into her eyes from time to time. Aline smiled as she saw her lips move as she read the words in her head, her finger following the lines of the sentences. Her skin was fair against the dark purple dress she was wearing and the necklaces around her neck complimented the mysterious color beautifully. Aline was enamored by the dark brown eyes moving from one side of the book to another, her brows furrowing in the process. She was curious what she was reading, what could possibly be as interesting as her reaction? she wondered. When the girl slightly looked up into the direction of Aline, Aline quickly hid her face in the notepad again, continuing to scribble innocent images. Not really thinking what she was drawing. She moved her eyes up seeing if the blond really had caught her off guard but she was already quite busy again reading the heavy book.

“So you haven’t asked her what she wanted to drink?” Clary asked, as she pulled her hair into a tight ponytail.

“Nope.”

“Would you mind?” she chuckled as Aline hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Uhh, I’m kinda… busy,” Aline muttered moving to rearrange some of the baked goods that were next to the register. Clary just rolled her eyes at her, grabbed another notepad and gave Aline a stern look.

“I’ll ask, you’ll deliver,” Clary smirked and walked towards the blond, Aline’s eyes following her every move. She looked at them intently while pretending to work as Clary shot her a few glances here and there.

The moment the blond girl looked up to the red haired one, Aline swallowed her breath. Her mouth practically fell open and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The girl was absolutely gorgeous. The facial features that were hidden by her long hair falling in her face before, she saw perfectly. She could see the faint smile on her lips when Clary had approached, could even spot some freckles framing her face, but when she bit on her lip Aline was positive she would faint if she hadn’t been leaning against the counter. This girl was utterly gorgeous with her kind eyes, small dimples and her curved cheekbones. Maybe this night wasn’t such a nightmare, she thought to herself not even noticing Clary’s return.

“Latte Macchiato,” Clary said as she came to stand next to the still distracted girl.

“Huh?” Aline answered not taking her eyes off of her.

“Aline, sweetheart,” Clary began. “I know you’re a desperate lesbian, but you’re still on the clock. So make the goddamn order and go to her!”

“Fine!” Aline yelped as she threw her hands up.

***

Aline’s hands were shaking, her legs were trembling, but she was walking with a big mug of coffee towards the most breathtaking girl. She looked at her intently as the other was still fully absorbed by the book, reading with her eyes and mumbling with her lips. As Aline kept getting closer and closer her nerves felt like they were on fire and she had no one to extinguish them. She looked back at a smiling and encouraging Clary, motioning for her to keep going and by the time she looked back she was there. Right in front of the table with the big book and the blond girl.

“Hi!” Aline almost exclaimed, her voice managing to crack while having to say one simple word. The girl quickly looked up as if she’s seen or rather heard a ghost, but when she saw the dark haired girl standing before her she looked intrigued. As if she was searching for something in Aline’s features. Aline leaned down to give the cup to the blond, but as soon as their fingers touched it somehow felt like a spark had ignited. She could feel the tingle go through her fingers, like a tiny shock of electric, making her hands twitch in response and the mug slipped out of her hand in result. Spilling all of the freshly made coffee on the old pages of the book.

“Fuck!” Aline cursed, and started dabbing on the book with her apron in a panic. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Shit!” the girl cursed as well, but she just looked at her in shock, looking terrified at the book or what it would do. She quickly got up from the chair, closing the book without getting Aline’s hands between it, muttering a ‘it’s fine’ here and there and looked like a deer caught in headlights when looking the other girl in the eye.

“Don’t close it!” Aline interjected, knowing it would get even worse then. She tried to peel it off the blond girls’ hands and successfully opened the book again. Only to find nothing. The words were gone, the images had disappeared and the pages were blank. She looked back at the girl, whose hair was now thoroughly messed up as she had probably moved it around in stress. It almost looked like…. Her ears….

“Wha-?” Aline questioned but before she could ask anything else the blond had closed the book again, had slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. Leaving a gaping Aline behind her. She looked at Clary in fright who gestured her to go after the girl, to apologize or to make conversation. She shook herself out of her thoughts and went after her, wanting to call or yell for her but not knowing how to. She quickly ran outside, looking for her in the busy street filled with people, but it was already too late, she was out of sight. Almost as suddenly as she had been sitting there reading that giant book, she had been gone. Taken by the wind and surrounded by hundreds of people in costumes. Aline looked up to the bright moon still floating high up in the sky, but fluttered her eyes a few times, when she thought she saw sparkles flying through the sky. _What was happening tonight?_ she asked herself.

Aline walked back inside, closed the door with a huff and walked back over behind the counter.

“Wow,” Clary let out, trying to not be condescending, but things seemed rough for her colleague.

“Wow indeed,” Aline groaned and put her head in her hands, elbows back on the counter. She slowly opened her embarrassed eyes and looked down at the notepad between her arms, looking at the sketches she had been drawing. Her mouth fell open as she looked at the pencil lines. She raised the notepad closer to her face, inspecting what she was looking at. How she could be looking at this.

“What?” Clary asked.

“How, wha-“ Aline startled only to be lost for words.

“Look!” Aline hurriedly exclaimed as she showed the paper with the sketch to her. It showed a dark book with intricate engravings, golden details and this intriguing symbol on the front. Almost identical to…

“What?” Clary asked again, becoming slightly annoyed.

“That’s the exact same book, she was reading!” Aline exclaimed confused, still with her hands in her hair.

Clary looked confused at the notepad that was shoved in her face: “I don’t know, babe. Looks familiar, I guess, but you probably just saw it as she was reading it...”

“But how?” she wondered. _How. _And why does it look familiar?

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it please leave me a comment or a kudo!


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